Sonos has released its first new product in years: the Sonos Playbase

Sonos is adding a second TV speaker to its whole-home audio lineup. The notably skinny Playbase is designed to sit down below a flat-screen tv, connecting to it thru an optical cable. As with Sonos’ in advance Playbar, the $699 Playbase can connect wirelessly to the agency’s subwoofer and any pair of wireless audio system to form a 5.1-channel home theater audio machine.

Sonos products commonly have minimalist designs, however the Playbase takes matters similarly with a layout that’s speculated to appear to be it became cut from a slab of granite. It’s now not stone, even though – the case is made from a tumbler-filled polycarbonate. It’s to be had in white or black.

Sonos Playbase Design

The rectangular speaker measures 14.17 inches deep and 28.35 inches wide, however is just 2.28 inches high and might assist a television weighing as much as seventy five kilos. The glass-filled polycarbonate enclosure homes six midrange drivers, 3 tweeters, and one woofer, with each speaker paired to its very own elegance D amplifier. As is ordinary of Sonos, the organisation did now not divulge the amplifier output, but none of its preceding speakers have left us trying more extent.

Sonos Playbase Features

Like other Sonos audio system, it’ll likely guide connectivity along with your different Sonos audio system and voice manage thru Alexa in some unspecified time in the future this yr, furnished you have an Echo or hearth television device. There had been rumors that Sonos will build Alexa functionality into future gadgets (the Play:5 has a microphone it truly is presently no longer used), so it is a possibility too.

The Playbase will support Dolby digital surround sound, but now not DTS. each formats are found in DVD discs, however Dolby dominates in the video-streaming marketplace. Sonos is likewise no longer helping the higher-resolution Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD grasp Audio encoding present on Blu-ray and Blu-ray HD discs–it cannot, because those soundtracks require the bandwidth that an HDMI connection presents.

The Sonos Playbase will price £699 within the United Kingdom, and it comes out on April 4th 2017.